Susan Bono, Queen of Personal Essays suggests this prompt:
I’m trying to figure out how I feel about _________.
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I’m trying to figure out . . . Prompt #19
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Don’t think. Don’t plan. Just Write.
When you write, using the method of writing freely – called a freewrite – you can lose control with no worries about consequences. Writing in this style is for your personal enjoyment or to enhance your writing. This isn’t your final piece to be published. No one else has to read your writing, unless you invite them to.
When you freewrite, don’t think and don’t plan what you will write next. Just go with the moment’s energy. If you use a prompt that draws from your childhood, you will have endless material to write about.
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How to get in the mood to write.
Get comfortable in your chair, couch, or wherever you are sitting . Both feet flat on the floor. Wiggle, squirm, move around until you are sitting comfortably. Take a deep breath in through your nose and release slowly through your mouth.
Feel the floor under your feet. Your chair is firmly supporting you. Rest your hands comfortably in your lap, or on your thighs or on the table.
Sit back and relax into your chair, feeling completely supported and totally comfortable.
Take a deep breath in, hold and let go. Let go of your worries, Let go of your concerns.
Take a nice deep breath in. Feel the breath go down, past your lungs, into your belly.
Hold and really whoosh out.
As you go through this relaxation, take deep breaths as you need to and really whoosh out as you exhale.
Perhaps wiggle your toes and feet, rotate your feet, loosen your ankles.
Feel your feet relax. Relax your legs, Let go of the calf muscles. Let go of any tension in your legs. Just let go.
Relax your thighs. Let the chair take the weight of your thighs. Let go of any tension that is in your thighs.
Deep breath in. Hold and release. Let your worries fly away. Enjoy this sensation of feeling free. Free and relaxed.
Relax your stomach. Release and relax.
Take deep breaths as you need to.
Rotate your shoulders in a circle. And around the opposite direction.
Roll your head and your neck. Roll back the other way.
Deep breath in and as you exhale, let go of any tension that might be lingering. Just let go.
You can do this before starting to write and anytime you feel stuck. Remember to breathe!
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I thought I would never . . . Prompt #18
Another prompt inspired by essayist Susan Bono. I thought I would never learn to love ____________.
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I want to tell you how . . . .Prompt #16
I want to tell you how ______________changed my life. Prompt inspired by Susan Bono. Fill in the blank. Write for 12-15 minutes about how something or someone changed your life.
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It was a Saturday morning and . . . Prompt #15
“It was a Saturday morning and clouds were gathering . . .” Finish the sentence and then keep writing. See where this takes you. -
Writing and Improv – Prompt #14
Today’s prompt inspired by Leigh Anne Jasheway, “Improv/e your writing” in the Nov/Dec issue of Writer’s Digest magazine. Talking about writing and improv: “Write a short description of something physical a person would do — say Stanley tapped his foot while making occasional clicking sounds with his tongue.”
Your turn: Conjure a character, an action and go from there. . . don’t worry about where your writing will take you, be open to where this can go.Prompt: Character and action
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Remember when you . . . Prompt #10
The current issue of Writer’s Digest magazine (Nov/Dec 2013) is filled with inspirational prompt ideas. Here’s one, “Start with the statement ‘Remember when you . . . ‘ and dream up something unusual to fill in the blank.”
Or, you can write about something that really happened.
Prompt: Remember when you . . .
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Dream it through with Andre Dubus III
“Dream, dream, dream it through. Write more with your body and less with your head. Don’t think a story through, don’t think it out. The danger in thinking it through is that most of us are not smart enough to do it that way. We have to go one moment at a time.” – Andre Dubus III, in the November 2013 issue of The Writer magazine.